Advent3

“The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them-to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.


Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep; therefore you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thurs says the Lord God, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.” -Ezekiel 34:1-10 (NRSV)



While Jeremiah finds himself left behind in desecrated Jerusalem, Ezekiel is among those exiled to Babylon. He struggles to convict the Israelites of their sinfulness, to justify God’s actions and to paint a vision of Israel’s future.



1. To whom does the Lord refer when God speaks of the shepherds?

2. Who are we called to shepherd? To whom might you shepherd this day, this week, this Advent season?



Prayer: Pour out your mercy on me, dear Lord, that I might seek out the sheep of your fold, that I might minister to them in the power and might of your Holy Spirit. Give me eyes to find your sheep and ears to hear them in the dark night. AMEN

Advent2

“For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to make grain offerings, and to make sacrifices for all time.


The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: Thus says the Lord: if any of you could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their appointed time, only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken, so that he would not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with my ministers the Levites. Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will increase the offspring of my servant David, and the Levites who minister to me.” - Jeremiah 33: 17-22 (NRSV)



1. If you were living in the days of Jeremiah, what would it mean to you to always have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel?

2. What do you think the phrase “the days are coming” would mean to those still living in Israel? What does it mean to us today?



Prayer: Good Lord, our God, guide us through this Advent season. Give us eyes to see past loss and devastation, to a future of hope. Prepare us for the time when we will rely only on you because you are all that is left to us. May we live in righteousness and grace until that day. AMEN.

Advent 1

"The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name which it will be called: 'the Lord is our Righteousness.'" - Jeremiah 33: 14-16

When Jeremiah heard this voice from God, he was surrounded by devastation. The Babylonians had ransacked Jerusalem, looting the temple and burning the city. The most educated and accomplished Judeans were exiled to Babylon, while a remnant of the population remained to try to live their lives amid the destruction.

1. If you found yourself among a handful of people living amid the horrors of a desolate city, how would you feel? What would you think about God?

2. What do you think people who found themselves left behind in a ravaged and deserted city believed God's promise to be?

3. Is it possible that any leader might be expected to always execute justice and righteousness? Do all human leaders eventually fall short of doing what is just and right?

For the past seven weeks, I have been deeply immersed in the findings reflected in the book UnChristian, by David Kinaman. Yet, Kinnaman's research shouldn't surprise me. In my own dealings with the church I have found Christians to be judgmental, hypocritical, out of touch, and insincere. In fact, whether Christians or not, I have experienced folks who reflect these attributes. Further, I know I am guilty of the same behavior. So, is the problem that Kinnaman points to the fact that the Christians, while claiming to aspire to be like Christ, miss the mark, or is the problem that people outside of Christianity have an impossibly high standard for Christians? And have we Christians accepted an unrealistic standard for behavior, then pretended to live up to that standard? What do you think?

Coffee, tea, or God?

September 15, 2009
Do you prefer coffee, or are you strictly a tea drinker? Do you crave the early morning experience of that first sip of warm brew? Do you think about it, yearn for it, from the time the alarm breaks your peaceful morning musings, or the moment your tender tootsies hit the hard, cold reality of the floor? Do you sigh in utter contentment when the first sip courses across your tongue and down your throat? Do you hold the cup in your lap, allowing the warmth to renew your fingers, travel through your hands to your arms, and maybe warm your heart? Have you ever driven out of your way to pick up a cup of heavenly potion, and waited in line to receive the gift of a renewal, revitalization, and resurrection held in one tiny cup?
What if we had the same feelings about God that we have about our caffeine cravings? What if we experienced God each morning with a sense of pining and passion? What if our first thought in the morning was to find the message God had for us that day: maybe a passion hidden in the early morning dew or the breaking sun? What if we experienced utter contentment in a word written in scripture or a poem, or in music? What if we felt God moving through our fingers, along our arms, and into our hearts? Do we think we might stand in line and wait for the gift?
How do we experience God?

The First Time

Coming to a church on Sunday morning for the first time can be a difficult and intimidating act. It takes a lot of courage for a person to enter the worship space, particularly if they are alone. Often, people come to church for the first time after a recent difficult transition: a move to a new city, the death of someone close, or the loss of a relationship. They are looking for comfort. Maybe they have been away from the church for awhile. Perhaps they have had a bad church experience. Recently, I've noticed many of our visitors come with friends for the first time or two. Do you remember the first time you visited your church? How did it feel? What made you uncomfortable? What made you comfortable? When did it start to feel comfortable? What might have made you feel more at ease?

Too Busy to Pray?

Why do people shy away from prayer? Is it unfashionable? Do only fanatical Christians pray? Is there a fear of being swept away in an uncontrollable tsunami of the Holy Spirit? Do some Christians think prayer is passé, only for children? I don’t really understand why anyone, given the power to transform their life into something better, beyond their imagination, would not take advantage of that source. Yet, that is exactly what God gives us, the power to co-create with the Divine, to live life anew and refreshed, indeed to be part of something few people ever experience: the kingdom of God.

That is not to imply that the kingdom has not been given to all of us. It has. Yet, without the power of prayer most folks will miss it, walk past it, sink, drown, and never know the immense gift that was given from the beginning.

In his book, Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels describes prayer as an “unnatural activity.” He goes on to write:

From birth we have been learning the rules of self-reliance as we strain and struggle to achieve self-sufficiency. Prayer flies in the ace of those deep-seated values. It is an assault on human autonomy, an indictment of independent living. To people in the fast lane, determined to make it on their own, prayer is an embarrassing interruption.

Prayer is alien to our proud human nature. (p. 9)

Why do you think people are reluctant to pray? Is it simply inconvenient, or is there more?